Saturday, September 10, 2011

UPDATE: To further encourage those of you who want to try baking macarons but are still hesitating, I've decided to give away my good-as-new copy of i <3 macarons by Hisato Ogita to one lucky reader. This giveaway is open to anyone with a US or Canadian shipping address. To enter, simply leave a comment on this post including a way to contact you should you win. For additional entries, follow 6 Bittersweets or Heaven in a Wild Flower via email, reader, and/or Twitter (@6bittersweets or @heavenwildfleur). You must leave a separate comment for each entry for them to count. This giveaway closes at midnight on September 18 -- good luck! THIS GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED. THANKS TO ALL WHO ENTERED!

I mentioned in my Singapore post that I was lucky enough to catch up with 2 groups of lovely bloggers during my trip. I say "lucky" not only because we managed to match up schedules on such short notice, but also because 4 of them had just returned from being overseas and also planned to stay in Singapore only briefly. Eunice of Heaven in a Wild Flower, having moved to London some years ago, was one of these globetrotters ^_^.

I'd discovered Eunice's blog through her gorgeous macaron posts, so it wasn't long after we met that we began gabbing about which patisserie made them best and the secrets to making good macs at home. At this point, hearing that I was already missing baking in Singapore, Eunice was sweet enough to invite me into her chocolatier friend's professional kitchen where she'd be making macarons for a wedding! She led the baking, while I put myself in charge of visually documenting the process. We really hope you enjoy the following step-by-step photo tutorial of macaron-making that is the fruit of our collaboration. Now please turn your full attention to our resident macaron master =).

Wedding Photography by Eunice; Tutorial Photography by me.

I had the lovely fortune of meeting up with Xiaolu from 6 Bittersweets when she went to Singapore recently for a holiday. I too, was back in Singapore for a holiday as I'm usually based in London. The precise reason was for a good friend's wedding and I had promised her I'd make her a dessert table, as well as arrange some of her wedding flowers. Little did I know what a big undertaking that would be!

So when a few of us met up over dinner and I mentioned this, Xiaolu gamely said she'd love to come and help out as I attempt to make 75 macarons, 12 meringues and 2 trays of rice krispies treats! Luckily for me, I also had the use of a proper commercial kitchen, courtesy of my friend E who owns the lovely chocolate shop Truffs, in return for showing his staff how macarons are made. This was the first time I had conducted a class of some sort, or made macarons in such a big batch, so I was fairly worried about everything working properly. I'm happy to report that all went well, and I was very lucky to have Xiaolu helping out as well as taking pictures.

For the wedding, the bride wanted a whimsical fun garden theme. The colour palette she had picked was raspberry pink and lime green. I made green bouquets for the bridesmaids, and a pink one for her bridal bouquet, as well as the table flowers. We also placed apples all around as decor. I set up a dessert table using some vintage china I've been collecting, and decorated it with some of the leftover flowers. The macarons and other treats were laid out together with some luscious cupcakes baked by another friend. I must say that they looked really enticing and lovely. By the end of the lunch, all the desserts were gone!

I hope the visual recipe tutorial below helps you to recreate these little beauties!

EUNICE'S NOTES: This basic recipe can be scaled up or down, I always use the egg whites as the base for proportioning the rest of the ingredients. So for every 1 part egg whites, use 1.3 parts almond flour, 1.6 parts icing sugar and 0.55 parts castor sugar.

XIAOLU'S NOTE: For additional tips on making French macarons at home as well as several very helpful videos of the mixing process, please check out my first macaron post!

Fold in 1/3 of dry ingredients (icing sugar + almond flour) into meringue with a spatula gently. Add in 1/3 more and fold again before mixing in the last 1/3 of the dry ingredients.

Make sure all dry ingredients are incorporated into the meringue and start folding mixture more vigorously to form a shiny batter with the consistency of flowing magma or drips down like ribbons.

When you lift the batter up and let it drip down, it should slowly disappear into itself without leaving a peak. Be careful not to over mix as batter will spread too much when piped.

Line 2 baking trays with non-stick parchment paper (or silpat). You can stick it down with bits of batter in the four corners.

Fill a piping bag fitted with a 1-cm (about 2/5-inch) round tip with the batter, and pipe even rounds of batter, about 3.5 cm (about 1 1/3 inches) across, onto the tray. If you've mixed the batter properly, it should not spread flatly out too much (overmixed) or leave a peak (undermixed).

Pour the cream over the chocolate and use a spatula or wooden spoon to stir in a circular motion from the centre of the bowl and slowly incorporate more and more of the cream until the chocolate and cream comes together into a smooth emulsion.

Let it cool at room temperature until it thickens, about 4 hours, or in a fridge for 2 hours.

Assembly

Match pairs of shells of even size.

Fit piping bag with plain round 1 to 1.5 cm tip [about 1/2 to 2/3 inch]. Fill piping bag with chocolate ganache. Pipe a small mound of chocolate ganache filling onto one half of each pair of shells. Top with the other shell.

I haven't been following your blog for long, but I have been loving it! The pictures, desserts and ideas are so inspiring! I am also loving the guest posts, it's nice to find other beautiful blogs through them! Keep up the good work! :)

p.s. I might have to have a second wedding, that dessert table and color scheme is gorgeous! :D

The pink cookie with deep chocolate filing contrast is stunning. Confession time: I definitely share your macaron obsession. My sister gave them out as her wedding favor last weekend. (She shouldn't have left me alone with the leftovers.)

I've always wanted to make macaroons, but as you said in your post, I am hesitant to make them as well, especially if I mess it up and waste ingredient.This is an awesome giveaway and would help me and others like me to learn to feel comfortable and confident about making them.

This book will go well with the Silpat mat I won from you a while back. Since macaroons are the fragile cookies I wanted to make using the mat. First off though I must purchase a bigger cookie sheet since none of mine fit the mat.All I think for now is the mat is in good condition until I find that perfect pan lol.

Beautiful photos! I had my first macaron earlier this summer and it was AMAZING!!! I am dying to try them at home since there isn't anywhere to buy them locally here in Co. Springs. I think your photos of the batter will be particularly helpful for me.

Hi Xiaolu , Your Pink Macaron recipe has been selected by Knapkins to be featured in a Recipe Guessing Game. Please share the following link with your friends and fans. Congrats again!! :) To play, go here: http://knapkins.com/guess_games/475?source=blog

these look amazing! I really want to try making them, but is there anything else you can use instead of the egg white powder? because I live in Australia, and I haven't been able to find egg white powder at supermarkets in the past

Hi there! The egg white powder is really there mostly as insurance. You may have a bit more trouble getting the exact right amount of mixing without it. Perhaps age the egg whites a bit longer to remove more of the moisture? That's essentially what the powder is for, increasing the protein-to-liquid ratio and thus stabilizing the batter. Hope that helps!